


Library

by Jessa



Series: One-shots and Drabbles [7]
Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 00:03:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16586867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessa/pseuds/Jessa
Summary: In response to the “Mythology” challenge set by @reylo-week-2018





	Library

Rey’s stomach growls again, but she only has one more search term to go from the extensive list she’s made, and she isn’t leaving the library until she’s gone through them all. She just has to find something to sate her thirst for knowledge. Then she’ll sate her appetite for food.

One item returns. Rey’s stomach does a backflip. Hurriedly she scribbles down the details and races down the spiral stairs.

 _Why is the most interesting stuff always the hardest to find?_  she wonders, as she reaches the basement level and then begins the long walk past the lift shafts and finally into the recesses of the 800s section. 

In her excitement, Rey had scrunched the scrap of paper containing the book’s details in her palm as she’d fled the floor above. She flattens it out now with her fingers to read the call number again.

_B 899.1 SK_

_899…_ ,she repeats in her head as she starts checking random call numbers on the shelves. 

Rey scans up and down one row and then rounds the corner into a second. There is a guy crouched down toward the end of this row, already scanning. She hopes he isn’t looking for the book she wants. Her stomach knots at the thought and her eyes fly over the numbers leading down to him.

_850s, 870s, 880s…_

This is where the guy is crouched. Rey breathes a sigh of relief as she realizes that the 890s are just above him and to the right. But she can’t access the shelf. He has removed a book and is kneeling on the floor, thumbing through its pages.

“Um, excuse me,” she says. “I just need to get up  _there_.”

He looks up.

 _Wow,_  she thinks.  _Gorgeous eyes._

“Sorry,”he says in a rich, deep voice as he shifts his long legs to the left.

“That’s okay,” she says.

 _Ugh,_ Rey thinks, self-deprecatingly. _What a stupidly passive thing to say to a hot guy. No wonder you’re still single._

The guy gives her a lop-sided smile and then goes back to his book.

 _Double wow,_ Rey thinks, as she stares at the back of his scruffy black head of hair and lets her eyes linger on his long black legs. 

_He must be tall._

Then she remembers why she’s here.

 _Oh, right,_  she thinks.  _Book._

Rey looks up, finally spying the 890s where items on ‘other literature’ are classified. She runs a forefinger along the spines of the books on the top shelf until she finds it. Her heart leaps and she pulls it roughly from the shelf in her eagerness to hold it. Too roughly. 

“Oh,  _fuck_ ,” she can’t help but mumble, as she fumbles then drops the book. 

Hurriedly Rey bends down to pick it up but the guy with the gorgeous eyes has already reached for it. Her hand touches his.

“Sorry,” she breathes, mortified.

“That’s okay,” he murmurs, as Rey sees his eyes dash across the cover. “Here’s your book.”

“Thanks,” Rey says, feeling her cheeks flush horribly.

 _At least he says lame things too,_  she thinks, suddenly feeling less self-conscious.

Rey stands, opens the cover and starts to scan its index.

“Interesting name for an author,” she hears the guy say.  _“Skywalker.”_

Rey looks up, and then up again. He is standing now and he  _is_  tall. She feels her stomach flip again as now she puts all his features together.

 _Tall, dark, brooding. Definitely the type to hang out in libraries,_  she thinks as she also notices the tatty vintage ‘ _Bleach_ ’ t-shirt he wears over his faded black jeans.

“That’s a great album,” Rey says, motioning to his t-shirt. “Dark. Angsty.”

“Oh, yeah,” he says, smiling and looking down at it. “That’s cool you’ve heard of it.”

Rey frowns. “Why wouldn’t I have heard of it? Everyone’s heard of Nirvana. They’re not exactly obscure.”

The guy frowns.

 _Goddamnit,_ Rey thinks, suddenly sensing that this conversation is no longer going in a good direction.  _Why do you always have to be so fucking opinionated?_

“So,” he says, no longer smiling. “What’s your book about anyway?”

“Grey Jedi.”

“That’s geeky.”

Rey’s frown deepens. 

“Um, I  _don’t_  recall asking for your opinion,” she flashes back. “You’re in a  _library_. I’m sure whatever it is  _you’re_  so into is  _no less_   _geeky_.”

Rey turns on her heel and leaves the row. She doesn’t care how hot the guy is, or how close his taste in music seems to be to her own. He is rude as fuck. She has her book.  _That’s_  what she’s come here for and certainly  _not_ to hook up with some random jerk. 

Rey marches to a carrel and sits down. She can feel her heart thumping. She’s oddly upset about this. 

 _Just calm down,_  she says, as her stomach growls again.  _Then, go get food._

Rey opens the book for a second time and starts to scan the list of chapters more thoroughly. Her head is bent. She hears the chair beside her slide out with a scrape. 

 _Please no,_  she thinks.

“I’m sorry.”

_Damnit._

“So, what are you studying, anyway?” Rey says to him with a sigh as she looks up and their eyes meet again. 

Even though she’s still mad at him, he’s still annoyingly gorgeous.  _Very_  gorgeous.

“Literature,” he replies. “Greek literature, to be precise. I have an assignment due Wednesday. You?”

“I’m not studying anything,” Rey admits, sheepishly. “I just like to come here and read stuff.”

“I’m Ben, by the way,” he says. 

“Rey.”

“Is that short for something?”

“It might be,” she says obscurely, smiling. “So, tell me something about Greek mythology, then. What’s your assignment on?”

“Ares,” Ben says. “I need to write something in response to Ares.”

“And Ares is…”

“One of the Twelve Olympians. The son of Zeus and Hera. He represents the untamed aspect of war in Greek literature.”

Rey frowns. “Lineages. Are they really  _that_ interesting?”

Ben glowers at her.

“Sorry,” she adds quickly. “I have a tendency to shoot my mouth off sometimes.”

Ben cracks a smile.

“It’s an endearing quality,” he says.

 _Triple wow,_  Rey thinks.

“So, if you’re not a student here, how do you borrow books?”

“I don’t,” Rey says. “I just read them.”

Ben reaches out his hand to Rey. She raises an eyebrow.

“I want you to let me borrow it for you,” he says. “Peace offering. Please?”

Rey’s stomach growls for a third time. In the quiet of the library the sound is embarrassingly loud.

“Wow,” Ben says. “Was that your stomach?”

“Yeah,” she admits. “I really need you… I mean,  _lunch_.”

_Fuck._

Ben laughs.

“Holy shit,” he says. “Come on. After we’ve borrowed our stuff you can join me for food. I know a great Japanese place.”

“Really?” Rey says, not quite believing what she’s hearing.

“I’d be honored if you would,” Ben says.

 _A galaxy of wow_ , Rey thinks.


End file.
